Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes,^(A) put on sackcloth and ashes,^(B) and went out into the city, wailing^(C) loudly and bitterly. ² But he went only as far as the king’s gate,^(D) because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. ³ In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵ Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

⁶ So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.^{(E) 8} He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

⁹ Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned^(F) the king has but one law:^(G) that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter^(H) to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

¹² When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent^(I) at this time, relief^(J) and deliverance^(K) for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”^(L)

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast^(M) for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”^(N)

¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Made Alive in Christ

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,^{(A) 2} in which you used to live^(B) when you followed the ways of this world^(C) and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,^(D) the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.^{(E) 3} All of us also lived among them at one time,^(F) gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a](G) and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us,^(H) God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions^(I)—it is by grace you have been saved.^{(J) 6} And God raised us up with Christ^(K) and seated us with him^(L) in the heavenly realms^(M) in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,^(N) expressed in his kindness^(O) to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace^(P) you have been saved,^(Q) through faith^(R)—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works,^(S) so that no one can boast.^{(T) 10} For we are God’s handiwork,^(U) created^(V) in Christ Jesus to do good works,^(W) which God prepared in advance for us to do.